Fugue (formerly Luminal), a Maryland-based startup developing an infrastructure-level operating system for cloud computing, announced it has closed a $20M Series C financing round, led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA). Previous investors, including Core Capital, also participated in the round. This brings the total amount of financing to $34M. The company also announced its name change to Fugue [few-g], which is the name of its cloud operating system.

The rapid adoption of cloud computing brings new challenges as applications have become distributed and infrastructure has proliferated. Fugue reins in this complexity and simplifies operations by building, enforcing, and optimizing cloud infrastructure, continuously and automatically. Fugue can be used to operate cloud-native workloads and to migrate and run traditional datacenter applications in the cloud. It will initially operate workloads on Amazon Web Services.

'Until now enterprises have realized only a fraction of the cloud's benefits, because increasing adoption has meant greater complexity,' said Harry Weller, General Partner at NEA. 'To unleash the power of the cloud, management must be simple, automated, and provide a high level of control. Fugue's radically new approach to managing cloud infrastructure is the missing piece that will redefine the value proposition for businesses and spur the next wave of cloud adoption.'

'As their first institutional investor, it's been remarkable watching them build out a world class team and pursue a bold vision for the cloud,' said Pascal Luck, General Partner at Core Capital. 'We're seeing an increasing demand for cloud-native solutions to today's IT challenges, and Fugue is uniquely positioned to help customers realize the promise of the cloud.'

'We view the cloud as a giant distributed computer, and Fugue is an operating system for the cloud that we're building from first principles,' said Josh Stella, founder and CEO of Fugue. 'The significant support we enjoy from NEA, Core Capital, and our other investors is what makes it possible for us to assemble the incredible team needed to tackle hard problems in distributed computing and empower customers to take control, move fast, and save money in the cloud.'

Those interested in participating in the Fugue beta can register at www.fugue.co or send us an email to beta@fugue.co. Fugue is hiring experts in language design, distributed computing, and cloud infrastructure to expand its global team.

Connect with Fugue
Twitter: www.twitter.com/FugueHQ
Blog: https://blog.fugue.co/

About Fugue
Fugue is a software startup developing next-generation solutions for the operations and maintenance of cloudÂ--based systems. Initially called Luminal, the company was founded in 2012 and is based in Frederick, MD with offices in Washington, DC, San Francisco, and New York City. For additional information, visit www.fugue.co.

About NEA
New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA) is a global venture capital firm focused on helping entrepreneurs build transformational businesses across multiple stages, sectors, and geographies. With nearly $17 billion in cumulative committed capital since the firm's founding in 1977, NEA invests in technology and healthcare companies at all stages in a company's lifecycle, from seed stage through IPO. The firm's long track record of successful investing includes more than 200 portfolio company IPOs and more than 320 acquisitions since its founding in 1977. In the U.S., NEA has offices in Menlo Park, CA; Boston, MA; New York, NY; Chicago, IL; and the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. In addition, New Enterprise Associates (India) Pvt. Ltd. has offices in Bangalore and Mumbai, India and New Enterprise Associates (Beijing), Ltd. has offices in Beijing and Shanghai, China. For additional information, visit www.nea.com.

About Core Capital
Core Capital is a leading venture capital firm headquartered in Washington, D.C., that invests in early-stage ventures and emerging growth companies developing or incorporating disruptive, 'core' technologies in high-growth enterprise software technologies in sectors such as Cloud, Cyber Security, Data Analytics, and Mobile. Our focus is on teams and companies in the information technology, digital media, and technology-enabled services arenas, led by seasoned entrepreneurs. For additional information, visit www.core-capital.com.